The First Word: Holstered

On this day — the Senate is locked, stocked, cocked and then stuck on the issue of campus carry; work progresses on a compromise between the House and Senate on sonogram legislation; the Comptroller’s office explains how 3 million Texans had their personal information made available; and more Prop 12 bonds for road construction

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***Jammed

It’s one of those things that just seems to get curiouser and curiouser — Sen. Jeff Wentworth’s proposal that would allow holders of concealed handgun licenses to bring their weapons into college classrooms and dormitories easily passed the Senate last session. Even with hours of testimony from police chiefs, college students, faculty and administrators against the bill; it easily cleared out of committee to the entire Senate, where it’s gotten stuck.

It was held up last Thursday because Democrats who supported the measure were unsatisfied with various proposed amendments that dealt mostly with local issues. Passage was thought to be a near certainty on Monday, until it wasn’t. The Houston Chronicle’s Joe Holley reports:

“I’m hoping this is just a bump in the road,” said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, sponsor of Senate Bill 354.

Although 13 of the 31 senators are signed on as co-authors, Wentworth needed 21 votes to bring the bill to a vote. The San Antonio Republican had only 20 last Thursday when he initially brought it up for consideration, and still did not have 21, the required two-thirds of the Senate, on Monday.

One opponent of the bill, Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, said he conducted an informal poll among college students in his district and found overwhelming opposition to the bill. “I asked the professors that I know personally to take a poll this morning, and the majority on all the campuses — the students that were involved in the poll — overwhelmingly wanted me to vote against this bill.”

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***So, Um… 3 Million Texans?

Houston Chronicle/Express-News Austin Bureau Chief Peggy Fikac reports that the Comptroller’s office disclosed yesterday that they had mistakenly posted identification information of more than 3 million Texans on the Internet. In a statement, Combs apologized for the accidental release of the information. The Attorney General’s office has opened a probe into the matter.

TxDOT’s funding problems are no mystery — revenues from the state gas tax and federal government make up the balk of TxDOT’s funding and as those sources of revenue decline; TxDOT’s costs keep rising.

The state’s population continues to grow creating significant demand for new road construction and the state’s aging transportation infrastructure is becoming more expensive to maintain the older it gets. All three of those factors combine to create the financial disaster that TxDOT is currently confronting and that the Legislature has been largely ignoring. HC/E-N Austin Bureau Chief Peggy Fikac reports:

Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, told the Senate Finance Committee, on which he serves, that he’d like lawmakers working on the next two-year budget to authorize another $3 billion in debt through Proposition 12 bonds.

Williams, chairman of the Senate’s Transportation and Homeland Security committee, also said lawmakers should allocate debt service for another $1 billion in Proposition 12 bonds that lawmakers told the Texas Department of Transportation to move ahead with in 2009.

Lawmakers two years ago told TxDOT to start on $2 billion worth of projects from Proposition 12 bonds, but they only set aside debt service for $1 billion of it, he said.